BBQ Tips and Techniques

1. Your Traeger Pellet Grill should never be moved when it is hot. If you are transporting your grill in a vehicle after cooking on it, make sure the fire is completely out and the unit is completely cold before placing it in any vehicle. NEVER put water in the firepot. It will jam the auger.
2. The Traeger Pellet Grill is designed to cook with the lid closed. Cooking with the lid open will dramatically lengthen your cooking time.
3. Never add pellets by hand to a hot firepot. This is dangerous and you may get seriously burned. If you run out of fuel and lose your fire while cooking, let the unit completely cool and start all over again with auto-start or manual lighting procedure.
4. Your Traeger comes with a three position cooking control board. It can be changed at any time to increase or decrease the temperature of your grill.
5. When estimating cooking times, remember that the outside temperature will dramatically alter your cooking times. If it is hot outside, it will take less time for food to cook. If it is cold, wet or windy, it will take longer for food to cook.
6. Grease fires are caused by not properly maintaining your grill, or failing to clean your angled drip pan on a consistent basis. In the unlikely event you experience a grease fire while cooking, keep the lid closed. Never open the cooking chamber lid during a grease fire. If it does not go out, lightly sprinkle baking soda on the fire. Be careful not to burn yourself. If this does not work, then carefully remove the food from the unit (being careful not to burn yourself), turn the power switch off and shut the lid until the fire is completely out. When completely cool, remove the grill, replace the foil on the drip pan, reset the drip pan and cooking grill and resume cooking your food.
   

Hardwood Pellet Guide

Traeger hardwood pellets - available in a variety of species - are the sole source of heat and impart a delicious flavor to smoked, grilled and baked foods. Conveniently sealed in easy-to-handle, 20-pound bags, our pellets are clean-burning, sanitary, economical and 100-percent pure. They are easier and safer to transport and store than other types of barbecue fuel.

 

Traeger barbecue pellets are no larger than the eraser on the end of a pencil. People who see them for the first time think they look like rabbit food, but there is nothing small about the heat energy in a barbecue pellet. Over 8500 BTU's per pound! Wood pellets are not new - they have long been used in industrial, commercial, and residential heating appliances and applications. There are over 100 fully operational pellet mills in the United States. Traeger Industries was the first company to use them for cooking.
 

Only the finest hardwood raw materials are sourced from all over the country. The pure, raw material (sawdust) is then pulverized with hammer mills and dried. The dried material is then processed under heat and pressure. Lignin, which is the natural glue which holds plant fiber together, softens above 100 degrees Celsius, permitting the material to change shape. The hot lignin then acts like a glue to bond the pellet together. Pelleting employs a hard steel die which rotates against rollers forcing the material through the die with pressures of over 10,000 PSI. As the pellet is forced through the die it is sheared off at the specified length, cooled, screened, and bagged.

 

General specifications for barbecue pellets are: 100% hardwood, 1" long or less in length, 1/4" diameter, less than 2% ash content, less than 2% fines, 10% moisture content, 8500 BTU's per lb, and about 40 lbs per cubic ft. density. Traeger pellets are sealed in convenient 20-pound bags and are available in several flavors of wood as listed in the chart below.